Disabled money wise I, like a lot of people have undergone a lot of changes, and not for the better.

Firstly is was my Severe disablement allowance which changed to Employment and Support Allowance. (Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) was a United Kingdom state benefit intended for those below the state pension age who cannot work because of illness or disability. It was replaced by Incapacity Benefit in April 2001, which itself was replaced by Employment and Support Allowance.)

I kept hearing a lot of talk in the media about the Personal Independence Payment and how some people had lost their disability cars and through this their independence.

I have a friend who has done advocacy for years and she pre-warned of the cuts and the outcome for many disabled.

Despite all this I remained complacent and didn`t fear the changes, thinking that a lot must be scaremongering.

However by the time my letter came for a consultation with a health professional for Feb the 19th, I was by now slightly unnerved by the rapid surges of stories of the misery caused by these changes, these not only included loss of independence but deaths too.

I saw the ex nurse in my home, she was kind, patient and congruent, however I was afraid to move in case I seemed too independent; this in itself goes against everything I have ever tried to achieve in life. She left, but the worry didn`t.

I have spent my entire life trying to prove to family, people I meet and new friends and lovers, that being disabled doesn`t mean being incapable, dependant, a burden, needy, a drain on society. Yet here I was feeling as though we were returning to the Victorian times.

Historic England`s site writes: The pull of the asylum and the workhouse was strong, but many thousands of people with disabilities stayed in their communities. The social investigator Henry Mayhew (1812-1887) described the disabled beggars of the London streets in 1862, including the “idiotic looking youth… shaking in every limb” and the “crab-like man without legs strapped to a board (who) walks upon his hands”.

Some disabled people prospered. James ‘deaf’ Burke (1809-1845), also known as ‘the deaf ‘un’, rose from poverty to become a world champion prize fighter. Henry Fawcett (1833-1884), blinded as a young man, became Postmaster-General in 1880; he introduced the parcel post and the postal order.`

I truly believe this is what we are returning to. disability crimes are on the rise because we are being made to look like we`re benefit scroungers or faking it.

So here we are. The letter came, and I was horrified to see we`re graded in two categories, Daily living and Mobility activities. A list of things like preparing food, toilet needs, dressing and undressing, communication, etc, for these you get scored up to four for each and if a category was given 12 points then you get the enhanced rate, if you get lower as I did with 10, then you`re offered the standard rate.

Then to add insult to injury and blind me with science, they then paid me in the April only 139.75 for the month, without warning and with a sudden leap into my overdraft facility!

I now receive the standard rate of Daily living, with now means I`m now at a monthly rate of £124.88 less that I used to get, when I was told my DLA was for life as is my disability.

I am now grossly overdrawn due to the sudden drop of money in April and the drop now in benefits, which according to the paperwork includes the `money we owe you and all future payments.` I rang in April about the huge drop in money that month as I feared for my bills and had spent as normal without realising, but was repeatedly told, `that`s the way it`s done.`

The Motability people sadly have a statement for all the people now in a position where they are losing their cars: http://www.motability.co.uk/understanding-the-scheme/personal-independence-payment-and-motability/q-and-a-transitional-support-package

The Motability scheme don`t only enable people to hire cars, but also power chairs, which is the difference between being in their homes 24/7 or being able to be out and part of their community. My own power chair was almost £6000, they are not cheap.

Its been gruelling, but its not over yet; I have appealed against the decision as im not a tick box, I am an individual. No two days are the same, I can be alright this morning but be on six weeks bedrest with a fracture by this evening. I was born this way, I`m not going to have a Lourdes recovery, in fact with age it well may become worse with the onset of Osteoporosis alongside my Osteogenesis.

The elderly believe they are disabled, which to a degree they are but they are the primary voters that are exempt from bedroom tax, disability cuts or changes.

The most recent talk are the Invictus games, a good cause but sadly over shadowing the Paralympics and the real problems faced by those not made disabled by heroic acts but by birth or life.

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

About Maith an cailin

Born in the 1960s, I`m a single Mum of a young adult.
I am a full-time wheelchair user, who has been single since a marriage breakdown in 2008. I live in a UK remote village, not easy with a disability but this is a honest account of a ordinary Woman with a disability.